


The Family

by NevillesGran



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-25 15:03:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10766688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NevillesGran/pseuds/NevillesGran
Summary: Discussion on names, politics, and the (in)appropriateness of flirting in front of your future sister-in-law, and some thoughts on cryptic coloration in native species. (Warning: self-indulgent schmoop and banter.)





	The Family

Cassandra matched her office. Her dark blue skirts, de Rolo blue, matched the drapes by the window, and the pale shawl over her otherwise bare shoulders was a perfect mean between those and the pristine white walls. (It was very nearly a daringly low collar, too. Vex wondered who Cassandra was planning on terrifying today.) Even the streaks of white in her hair gave nothing but the impression that she had grown from that stone herself, the same as Percy’s fully snowy head did for him. He matched as well, of course, in his usual blue coat and lavender cravat. Like animals blending into their environment for protection, or perhaps to better lay ambush.

Vex had her own shining white armor, and fine blue dresses and a grey cloak of office. But today, like most days, she was still in her hunting leathers, though she’d taken to wearing some lovely silk shirts all the way from Marquet. This day’s was a rich dye that matched the turquoise of her feathers, and all but shone against her deeply tanned skin. A full treasury had many advantages.

Which was comforting, because gods knew there was other business to attend to. There were wedding preparations, which took far more of Vex’s time than she’d have thought, considering she’d been planning since about the age of four, and there was the bakery, the Grey Hunt, the still-ongoing rebuilding, the next round of trade negotiations, the _eternal_ paperwork—which affected Percy twice as much as her, and Cassandra thrice as much as either of them… Vex thought it probably a miracle that all three of them managed to be at the same place at the same time, and with more than three minutes to spare.

It wasn’t actually clear if Cassandra did have the time: she was more dressed to go out than to stay home and read reports. But she smiled as they entered her office, stood and dropped the stack of papers in her hands with something suspiciously reminiscent of a grateful sigh. Her desk was covered in similarly terrifyingly neat stacks, and no few books as well.

“Oh, good, I need- actually, I need to talk to both of you, right.”

“That’s what we’re here for, my lady.” Percy gave the smallest of bows, every inch the courtier.

Cassandra flushed, irritation at sibling mockery overcoming her usual poise. Vex wondered for the _n_ th time whether she ought to pull the girl aside and gently make sure she knew Percy meant every word. Best not. She was fairly sure Cassandra did know, and that it only made the reasons for the blush more complicated.

“What do you need?” Vex pulled a chair from in front of Cassandra’s desk and plopped down on it unceremoniously. The de Rolos were capable of dancing around in polite formalities and aphorisms for _hours,_ if nobody jump-started the conversation.

Cassandra, at least, looked grateful as she took her seat again. “It’s going to be important in the future, too, but for now it’s chiefly a matter for the wedding, so I mostly just need to speak with you, Vex.”

“Excuse me?” said Percy, affronted.

Both women turned to stare at him. He dropped his gaze and took the seat beside Vex, folding his hands meekly in his lap. “I beg pardon. Go on, ladies.”

Vex snorted, and reached over to take one of his hands in hers. He surrendered it without an ounce of true contrition. Cassandra made no effort to hide the rolling of her eyes.

“It’s about the titles,” the Lady of Whitestone explained. “Or rather, the formal acknowledgement of names and stations, and politics thereof. As has been established, we’re legally treating Percival as the younger sibling of the ruling head of the de Rolo family, these days–”

She shot Percy a look that was either frustration or gratitude, and Vex would bet ten gold that neither Percy nor Cassandra were sure which, either.

(They’d meant to set up a Council, they really had. But there had been dragons, and the chaos of rebuilding, and then actual gods to fight, and Whitestone turned to their de Rolos for leadership in a crisis. Once Cassandra had walked through that fire, with that weight on her shoulders, a Council wouldn’t have mattered anyway.)

“-and _heir_ , of course,” she added sharply, and Vex stifled a second snort at Percy less well-hidden wince.

“But, Vex,” Cassandra continued, turning from her wayward brother, “you mean to take his name, right? Baroness Vex’ahlia de Rolo, of the Third House etc. etc.?”

“Absolutely.”

It came out a little fiercer than necessary, maybe, and with a tightening of her grip on Percy’s hand. Vex had been trying to make amends, but she was _really_ looking forward to shedding her father’s name, officially, legally and forever.

Cassandra nodded in sympathy, and spread her hands. “That’s the difficulty, then, I’m afraid. Technically speaking, Percival is marrying up from his station, which means he ought to be taking your surname–”

Vex almost missed what Cassandra said next, her ears too busy buzzing at the thought of Percy _,_ Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III of Whitestone, marrying _up_ to _her_.

“—but of course, this is Whitestone, so anyone wedding a de Rolo is marrying above their station.” Cassandra and Percy exchanged wry glances. “But that brings its own complications. There’s plenty of precedent for marriages between the royalty and nobility: to bring an unruly house under control, or to strengthen ties to allies, reward service…”

(Vex couldn’t stop the tiniest thrill, and possessive squeeze of his hand, at the thought that she’d been _rewarded_ Percy. From the flicker of a smirk he sent her sideways, he agreed.)

“…but the implication of Vex taking the name ‘de Rolo’ is still that she is being absorbed into our family, and her barony as well.” Cassandra held up particularly ancient-looking tome, the pages covered in densely annotated family trees. “Also not without precedent, of course, but—”

“That is unacceptable,” Percy said firmly. “Vex rules in her own right, separate from any connection with the de Rolos. She’s the Baroness of the Third House of Whitestone and Grand Mistress of the Grey Hunt, whatever should happen to the family.”

Vex loved him so much. It was ridiculous and magnificent, how fucking much she loved him. 

“At some point, Percy, you’re going to have to pick up a real responsibility,” Cassandra threatened. “I’m going to be there, probably giving it to you, and I’m going to laugh and laugh and–”

“That’s not– I mean, I _have_ been– I’m not avoiding anything, Cassandra,” Percy sputtered. “If you wanted to appoint me—Vex has _more_ than earned her place, and title and rights as Whitestone’s defender, and if you can’t see that–”

“Of course she has.” Cassandra graced them both with a regal nod, and a smile that even grew fond around the edges. “’For great and noble service to lord and land, and Pelor above.’” She pursed her lips. “Though actually, it really _might_ work better if you had a house and title of your own, Percy—we still have spare. Then you could be a cadet branch, separate from the main house, and Vex could take your name but legally it would be a marriage between two noble houses.”

Percy hesitated. “I don’t know…” He held up a hand. “Not because I don’t want a house of my own, before you start that. I’m here for whatever you need. I…” He looked down, then forced his gaze up to Cassandra’s again. “I’d rather not leave you again.”

Cassandra’s eyes flickered away as well.

“And there would still be issues with the combining of the houses,” Percy added hastily. “Particularly as a branch. The Charter of 1146, remember, established—”

“That’s going to be a problem no matter what we do,” Cassandra argued. “I know you want nothing but to be under your wife–”

“ _Cass_.” Percy’s face was red, and his voice strangled. Vex had to restrain yet another snicker.

Cassandra smiled wickedly, more naturally again, and continued without demur. “–but short of disowning you, I don’t think there’s anything I can do about that.” She thumbed to a different page in the massive leather-bound tome, this one covered lists of dates and names. “We could declare it another honor, Vex taking the de Rolo name. There was a phase of that in the seventh century, apparently, from Rudolphus the Second during Great Giant Wars.”

“That could work,” Percy said thoughtfully. He turned to his fiancée. “Would you mind?”

“Me?”

Percy grew that sunlit smile he got when Vex thought she was a disaster and he thought she was a gift from an otherwise apathetic world.

“It’s your name. What do you think?”

It wasn’t that she couldn’t track the conversation, or even that she didn’t care. It wasn’t half ridiculous, but this sort of protocol was important to her, now, with a place and a duty. And if Percy and Cassandra could bounce dates and politics and ideas back and forth like…well, like two aristocrats raised for exactly this, in exactly this city, then…Vex was learning. She was still building up her library, a mix of books purchased from abroad and pilfered from the castle. With Orcus done and gone, she had turned her study time to local history, starting with the duties of the Grey Hunt and going wherever the footnotes took her. It was obvious to the point of being amusing how Percy and Cassandra both were products of every century of it. Legal codes that said “lord and land” like there was barely any point distinguishing, and holiday rituals in which “ _The Laird de Rollo fhalt plant the firft feed ov the yeare’s feald_ ”, even though the texts describing them were so old that they were written on hide. The other day in the marketplace, Vex had heard one bustling matron telling another that her daughter had gotten a job “doing cleaning for the family”, to her friend’s congratulation, and it had taken several more lines casual eavesdropping before Vex realized the girl was one of the new maids here in the castle. The de Rolos were a _colloquialism_.

“I just want it. The name. To be part of your family.” The words spilled without thought from her lips, almost breathless.

Percy looked impossibly fond, leaning forward, holding her hand. Cassandra bit her lip, obviously putting some effort towards keeping otherwise still.

“I mean.” Vex chased after the wayward wish, grabbing it carefully back to her chest. Sappiness needed limits, maybe; at least with her future sister-in-law in the room. In Cassandra’s own office, at that, where they were supposed to be being officious. “I mean I don’t care about the politics, honestly darling, or the exact legal whatever. An honor sounds lovely. I don’t mind being either over or under Percy.”

She made sure to arch her tone for the last sentence, and chase it with a wink, so Cassandra could give an entirely un-ladylike snicker and Percy could make choking noises and beg, “Vex, my _sister_.”

“Yes, dear?” Vex said innocently. “We were discussing plans for the wedding with her, weren’t we?”

Percy’s blush faded, but only because it was replaced with the slightly smug expression that meant he had a clever idea. That always took priority. (Really, she loved him.)

“How would you like to be adopted?”

"What," both women said flatly.

"No, it'll work!" He directed his pleas at his sister. "Rudolfus the Second only shared the name because the name was all he had left to give, when the Giant Wars bankrupted everything. We don't want to give the impression that we feel like that again, especially when the economy is still in recovery. And it only created a succession crisis, anyway. Not that we'll repeat that little fiasco—but if you took Vex as a ward, it would solidify her place in line even more firmly than being my wife, and no one could challenge her or our children on right of birth."

"Children?"

"Yes, Percy," Vex echoed Cassandra. "Children?"

She kept her tone light but her heartbeat was suddenly double its pace, her mouth dry and her neck just daring to flush. She looked forward to children, and assumed Percy would want them, too, but they hadn't exactly _discussed_ it yet.

Percy blushed much redder, sitting back in his chair. "I mean. If you want. Whatever you want."

His eyes on her were imploring. She leaned over and kissed his cheek, taking an extra moment to let her breath linger over the stubble.

"We'll talk later, darling."

His lips turned up at the corner, and she kissed that too, for good measure.

 

Cassandra interrupted them with a cough. "So what you're saying, Percival, is that the latest in the line of adoptees you'd like me to take on your fiancée's behalf...is your fiancée herself."

 

Percy turned those big bear cub eyes on her, only enhanced by the slightly guilty grin tugging on his lips. "Yes?"

 

She sighed, put-upon, though a smile snuck into her face as well. "Very well. I'll inform the notary."

 

It widened as she stood, lifted a towering stack of papers from her desk, and leaned over to drop them on Percy's lap.

 

"And _that_ is the correspondence you said you'd answer," she said, entirely self-satisfied at his dismayed _Oomph_. 

 

Vex leaned over for a better look at the pile, finally bereft of Percy’s hand as he disentangled their fingers to swipe at the top papers before they slipped onto the floor. “Pelor’s trunk, is that all about the wedding?”

“No, there’s more,” said Cassandra, answering not quite the question Vex had asked in a distinctly more horrifying way. “But my secretary’s not done sorting it out, yet.”

“I said I’ll do it!” Percy said hotly, before realizing she hadn’t made a dig at his work habits. He flushed again as he stood, arms awash in paper. Vex followed him up.

“Seriously though, Cassandra, why are _you_ doing _this?_ ” he added, with a nod at the dusty tome of family trees. “Don’t we have a herald? It was a hereditary position, last I checked. Old…Eleazar, Emerson—”

“Eland,” Cassandra said tightly, “and his son, Armand. They both died five years ago, and Armand’s wife hadn’t gotten with child, yet.”

“Ah,” said Percy, as Vex winced. It wasn’t difficult to do the math back to the first rebellion.

“We’ll have to hire a new one, then,” Vex declared. “I’ll look into that, if you want, Cassandra. I can ask around town, or, if it’s better to get someone with experience with general rules who would just need to learn Whitestone’s, I’m sure Allura could recommend someone. Or, King Bertrand still owes us.”

“That would be—”

A young page rapped sharply on the doorframe and hastily stuck his head into the room, obviously trying not to pant for breath. “Lady Cassandra? I just come up from town. You asked to be told ten minutes after the Goldsmiths Guild began their meeting?”

“Ah, thank you. Call a carriage, I’ll be right there.” Cassandra left her desk, ushering them towards the door and smoothing down her de Rolo-blue skirts as she went. “Sorry to cut this short, but I’m timing to crash their little party just when their agenda gets to the issue of returns. Guildmaster Auran needs a reminder of just who sets the interest rates in this city. ”

That explained the cut of her dress. Vex wondered how much reminding the Guildmaster could need, in this city. But Cassandra’s smile could be called wry, or it could be described as the bared teeth of a well-hidden predator preparing an ambush. Hunter to hunter, Vex didn’t mean to get in her way.

“Have fun destroying him!” she said. Percy sent her a pained look just over Cassandra’s head that said, _Please don’t encourage my sister to destroy people_. He changed it quickly to a supportive smile when said sister glanced his way.

“That would be kind of you,” Cassandra finished saying, turning back to Vex. “Ask Archie if he knows anyone, I think, or Armand’s wife, um…”

She twisted a finger through the ringlet of brown-and-white hair framing her face. “I forget her name.”

“It’d be mad if you knew everyone in the city,” Vex reassured her. “I’ll get right on it, darling.”

She had, as her fiancé would say, a horrible thought, and pressed a quick kiss to Cassandra’s cheek. “I’ll get right on it, ‘Mother.’”

Both de Rolos made charmingly horrified faces, recoiling from her as they all went down the pale stone hallway.

“ _No_ ,” said Cassandra.

“Gods, I take it back,” Percy begged, arms too full of papers to drag the women further apart like he clearly wanted. “Cassandra, please, don’t take her. Disown me. You know you want to. You threatened to when you were like eight.”

“You’d stolen my _favorite hairclip_ ,” the lady of the house accused, suddenly eight again, or at least averaging out with her usual poise to her actual barely-eighteen. “You stole it and turned it into part of a _watch_.”

Percy skipped back like a snowshoe hare. “It was a present for you! You were never on time to your lessons!”

“I was eight!”

Vex laughed, and waved a hand at the staircase they’d reached, leading up to the guest rooms and down to the foyer. “Cass, ou had to go terrify the Goldsmiths?”

Cassandra’s eyes narrowed as she switched quarry. “Oh, _yes_.”

Vex leaned her head on Percy’s shoulder and just watched her sister-nearly-in-law rush down the steps, enjoying the breath where neither of them, at least, had anything immediate to do.

“You know,” Percy said, ruining the silence with the slightest hint of desperation in his voice, “she would only be adopting you with the legal identity of Lady de Rolo, who is barely a person in her own right, so there’s really no need at _all_ —”

Vex turned her head and laughed into his shoulder. “ _You_ know, she might have a point about all the adopting. We really should talk about acquiring children the more conventional way.”

For a moment Percy tensed, guilty, but then she looked up and he caught the glint in her eyes, the curl to her lips and the faint, excited flush crawling up her neck. His own cheeks blushed, as usual, far darker to match.

“’Talk’, yes.”

Vex leaned in close, then winked and pulled away, taking a bundle of letters from his arms as she went.

“After we answer all these, of course,” she said piously. “The business of Whitestone must come first.”

If anything, Percy’s eyes raked her harder, his voice even rougher. “The most great and noble service.”

“Hmm. To the lord of the land, at that.” Vex tucked herself back against his side to nudge him down the stairway, out the door and back towards her house (not that the castle wasn’t lovely.) “Though I did prefer the bit where you were my prize. That was a nice thought. I like winning things.”

She was close enough to feel him shiver. That was an even nicer thought.

“That old legal code is all masculine-centric,” Percy said, shifting his papers to catch her arm in his. “As you are soon to be—in fact, already are a lady of the land, I’m sure something could be arranged.”

“Oh really?” Vex pressed even closer as they walked down the castle steps, Whitestone spreading in the sun below. It was almost blinding. “Well, I’m sure, then, that I could use my royal authority to come up with some suitable reward of my own for that service—”

It was _pleasing_ that Percy broke first, ignoring the few door guards to pull her close, bend down and kiss her hungrily. Vex responded in kind, gripping his arm and leaning up to get a similar hold on the back of his neck, forgotten papers cascading to the stones as he moaned against her lips. The air was chill, as usual, but Percy was warm, and if you couldn’t make out on the front steps of your own, shining castle, what was even the point of being nobility?

But Percy pulled away first, too, albeit with a low, reluctant groan. Hair tousled, glasses crooked, and lips swollen, if he was still every inch the courier, it was certainly a more debauched version.

Yet he, unlike Vex, still had a sheaf of correspondence in his grasp. “We really do have to answer these,” he said, voice still rough enough to keep her unwilling to untwine her arms from around his neck. “The mail coach leaves at four, and—”

“And I have to meet with the bakers at half past three, and you were going to check on that noise in the steam pipe, and progress on the orphanage.” Vex sighed. The guards were resolutely staring up at the sky, or back into the castle; she crouched to re-gather the lost letters herself. “And now I ought to start looking for a court herald, I suppose. But I don’t want to talk to Archibald until I’ve actually read that quarry report he gave me, and I feel terrible because it’s been sitting on my desk for six days and I simply cannot get through more than three words of it without falling asleep.”

“No one can get through the quarry reports,” Percy reassured her. “Don’t worry, the grain reports are even worse.”

He bent down and handed her one last letter with a flourish and a bow, and took her arm again as they rose together.

“But just think,” he said, and dared to lean in close again to murmur: “The sooner you find a new herald, the sooner you can be officially announced as Lady Vex’ahlia de Rolo.”

It was fast approaching late afternoon now, but it was always a little like watching the sun rise, Percy smiling at her, pleased and delighted and unaccountably a touch shy. “Children of Pelor,” the oldest texts called his family, and Vex could believe it: sun and white stone, as much part of the land as the beasts and forests she was sworn to protect. No wonder even daily speech took them for granted.

“It’s a tough job,” she admitted, and kept him close as they strolled back down the long, woods-edged path into town. They both had endless business to attend to, but the Grand Mistress of the Grey Hunt had to spend some time outdoors, or, she could spare half an hour if she decreed it. “But I think I’m up to the task.”

**Author's Note:**

> Review challenge: tell me your favorite line! Also, I know the pacing is off, but please give me more critiques if you have them - writing is an eternal process of getting better with each story, but I need feedback!


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